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Section: Misc

Articles on this site in the 'Misc' taxonomy, ordered by date (descending).

General humbuggery

Gordon Ansell 1st December 2020, 10:40 Misc, Nonsense, Rant, Briefly, Opinion

I have a go at the idiots who start celebrating Christmas way to early and ruin it for the sane people.
Ocado's van colours

Gordon Ansell 16th November 2020, 10:30 Misc, Companies, Nonsense, Briefly

I find Ocado's van colours confusing, specifically that the 'cabbage' van is purple rather than green.
BA and the Paradox of Disbelief

Gordon Ansell 20th September 2020, 10:15 Misc, Companies, Nonsense, Briefly

BA refuses to believe its site didn't give customers the option of a refund and that they requested voucher instead.
Coolest orders of nobility in England

Gordon Ansell 2nd September 2020, 17:00 Misc, Nonsense, Opinion 271 words.

Some orders of nobility are just much cooler than others, although England doesn't do cool very well.
Hurdles and horses

Gordon Ansell 25th July 2020, 09:00 Misc, Sport, Nonsense, Briefly

Sports that are either pointless or aren't policed correctly.
The psychiatrist problem

Gordon Ansell 18th May 2020, 09:20 Misc, Personal, Disquisition 1180 words.

For Mental Health Awareness week, some insight into the search for a psychiatrist from the perspective of someone with mental health problems.
Should the Premier League be restarted?

Gordon Ansell 30th April 2020, 08:30 Misc, Sport, Coronavirus, Opinion 416 words.

The Premier League is considering restarting the season, I suspect mainly for financial reasons.
Arnold sues creator of terrifying robot

Gordon Ansell 11th March 2020, 08:15 Misc, Gadgets, Companies, News 114 words.

A Russian company called Promobot created a robot based on Terminator and Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sue.
Gears of awe

Gordon Ansell 7th March 2020, 07:15 Misc, Gadgets, News 185 words.

Somebody builds a gadget where the first gear must turn 1 googol times to turn the last gear just once.
Wescot Credit Services — spammers (01482 590502)

Gordon Ansell 25th February 2020, 06:50 Misc, Companies, Review 432 words.

My experiences of Wescot Credit Services Ltd and I don’t owe them or anyone they represent a penny.
Barclays Bank's Big Brother backlash

Gordon Ansell 21st February 2020, 07:55 Misc, Companies, News 362 words.

Barclays Bank have abandoned an employee monitoring system after robust feedback from staff.
The Sonos situation re dropping support for older kit

Gordon Ansell 23rd January 2020, 08:10 Misc, Products, Software, Music, Opinion 274 words.

My thoughts on Sonos's announcement that they're dropping support for older kit.
28 things plugged in

Gordon Ansell 30th December 2019, 17:55 Misc, Nonsense, Opinion 137 words.

Just musing on the number of things in my living room that are currently plugged in.
Hearing Direct HD500 hearing aid review

Gordon Ansell 30th December 2019, 09:34 Misc, Products, Review 1837 words.

A review of the Hearing Direct HD500 hearing aid, which is a discreet, in-ear device.
Chepstow Real Ale and Cider Festival, October 2019

Gordon Ansell 14th October 2019, 10:30 Misc, Local, Event, Review 542 words.

A review of the Chepstow Real Ale and Cider festival, which I attended on Saturday 12th October 2019. A selection of over 40 beers was on offer.
Today is World Egg Day

Gordon Ansell 11th October 2019, 09:15 Misc, Nonsense, News 167 words.

A load of tosh about World Egg Day and, as a service to mankind, I'll tell you the Order of The Egg.
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

Gordon Ansell 11th October 2019, 07:30 Misc, Philosophy, Disquisition 1527 words.

An article about the lives and philosophies of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, who had a massive influence on Western culture.
Laundry nonsense

Gordon Ansell 7th October 2019, 09:00 Misc, Nonsense, Briefly

My washing machine irritates me again.
Apple’s asynchronous iOS/iPadOS 13 and macOS Catalina release schedule

Gordon Ansell 4th October 2019, 08:20 Misc, Apple, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, Opinion 323 words.

Apple manages to upset users of its Reminders app with a poorly planned release schedule, giving us iOS/iPadOS 13 a few weeks ahead of macOS Catalina.
US whistle-blower gets an A for English

Gordon Ansell 1st October 2019, 06:45 Misc, Writing, News, Citation

A writing instructor has an article in The New York Times praising the US whistle-blower's use of English.
The Thomas Cook Affair

Gordon Ansell 23rd September 2019, 10:50 Misc, Companies, News 383 words.

Why is repatriating the people stranded as a result of Thomas Cook's collapse going to cost the taxpayer £100m?
Washing machine timers

Gordon Ansell 22nd September 2019, 09:00 Misc, Nonsense, Briefly

My washing machine's timer lives in a parallel universe.
Why do films get mental health so wrong?

Gordon Ansell 4th August 2019, 09:55 Misc, Opinion, Citation

The linked article specifically talks about bipolar's depiction in 'Midsommar' but it's equally true of all mental health depictions in TV and film.
The insurance industry needs reform

Gordon Ansell 14th June 2019, 10:10 Misc, Nonsense, Opinion 663 words.

My ideas for reforming the insurance industry, which seems uniquely geared to simply taking premiums off us at the moment.
Apple’s 2019 WWDC — iPadOS, Apple ID and macOS Catalina

Gordon Ansell 13th June 2019, 05:15 Misc, Apple, macOS, iPadOS, iOS, iPad, News 1362 words.

Apple's June 2019 WWDC unveiled a mouthwatering array of enhancements to its operating systems. I review some of my favourite features here.
Title case v sentence case

Gordon Ansell 25th April 2019, 07:35 Misc, Writing, Blogging, Opinion 584 words.

I changed my blog titles from title case to sentence case but I still don't know which I prefer.
The scourge of flat-pack

Gordon Ansell 2nd March 2019, 09:05 Misc, Products, Rant, Opinion 445 words.

I dislike flat-pack items, but what I really take issue with is when flat-pack items are, in my opinion, misleadingly advertised.
Suunto Core All Black review

Gordon Ansell 23rd February 2019, 09:50 Misc, Watches, Products, Review 796 words.

A review of the Suunto Core All-Black watch, which I like a lot despite one or two minor faults. This is now my main watch.
Sonos and TuneIn radio

Gordon Ansell 20th February 2019, 10:35 Misc, Products, Music, How-To 205 words.

If you've lost Radio by TuneIn on your Sonos system upgrading to Sonos 10 might just solve the problem and restore it.
Smarter iKettle 3 review

Gordon Ansell 14th February 2019, 15:15 Misc, Household, Products, Review 803 words.

A review of Smarter's iKettle 3, an app-driven kettle you can boil either ad-hoc or on a schedule via your phone.
Casio G-Shock Mudmaster GWG-1000 review

Gordon Ansell 9th February 2019, 21:30 Misc, Watches, Products, Review 1503 words.

A review of the Casio G-Shock Mudmaster GWG-1000 watch. One of Casio's premium range watches.
Supremely Washable 4.5 Tog Printed Duvet review

Gordon Ansell 13th January 2019, 08:45 Misc, Household, Products, Review 461 words.

A review of the Supremely Washable 4.5 Tog Printed Duvet from Marks and Spencer.
Wilkins Cider Farm, Mudgley, Somerset

Gordon Ansell 14th October 2018, 15:45 Misc, Local, Companies, Review 193 words.

Wilkins Cider Farm in Mudgley, Somerset is well worth a visit, not least for the ambience of the place.
What happened to John Lewis?

Gordon Ansell 26th July 2018, 18:15 Misc, Companies, Rant, Review 586 words.

John Lewis used to be a shop that truly put the customer first, an icon of respectability in the shopping world. No so now if my recent experience with them is anything to go by.
Depression and the importance of trusting someone

Gordon Ansell 20th July 2018, 07:15 Misc, Personal, Opinion 1410 words.

Depression is a horrible disease but one thing it took me over 20 years to figure out is that it's really, really important to find someone you trust to talk to about it.
What does a Bona Vacantia freehold mean for leaseholders?

Gordon Ansell 13th May 2018, 07:45 Misc, RTM, Opinion 732 words.

What does is mean for leaseholders if a freehold becomes bona vacantia and reverts to the Crown? In this article I look at how that situation affects leaseholders and what they should do to mitigate it.
Owner-occupiers in an RTM management company

Gordon Ansell 27th March 2018, 02:45 Misc, RTM, Opinion 1119 words.

A look at the rights of owner-occupiers in an RTM management company, in particular how things might play out between the owner-occupiers and the landlords who share the same building.
Categories v tags on blogs

Gordon Ansell 24th March 2018, 09:59 Misc, Blogging, Opinion 1165 words.

How should we use categories and tags on a blog? I offer some suggestions in this article and I think categories should represent a different grouping of information to tags.
The processed food conspiracy and the dreaded sprout

Gordon Ansell 18th March 2018, 04:15 Misc, Nonsense, Opinion 444 words.

Why the drive to make us avoid processed foods is a conspiracy between the government and sprout cultivators.
Tardiness and why it drives me mad

Gordon Ansell 17th March 2018, 05:15 Misc, Nonsense, Rant, Opinion 747 words.

My rant about how I hate tardiness, either when it's me who's late or when someone else is late for an appointment with me.
The problem with reviews - what makes for a good review?

Gordon Ansell 15th March 2018, 05:00 Misc, Writing, Opinion 1327 words.

One of the main problems with product reviews is the inherent subjectivity of them. In this article I look at how product reviews can be written to help overcome subjectivity.
Rescuing the exclamation mark

Gordon Ansell 6th March 2018, 18:17 Misc, Writing, Rant, Opinion 684 words.

Let's rescue the exclamation mark from all the abuse and overuse it suffers today. 99% of all exclamation marks on the internet are unnecessary.